Burning Amber Frigid Blues
by Obsidian Buterfly
Summary: They were at the opposite ends of the spectrum. She, a loyal daughter, sacrificing her happiness for the sake of her people. He, a runaway prince, searching for salvation. Never destined to meet but Sparks flew when Burning Amber met Frigid Blues. AU
1. Prologue

_**A/N: I've sorta forgotten how the idea for this thing came to me but I'm happy with how this turned out. Even though I not a noob to anymore, this is my first time writing an ATLA fic. But I'm hoping you'll find it a fun read since I've been told that my ideas are unique and somewhat refreshing. Now before I begin to ramble, please go ahead and enjoy.**_

The room was dark and not much light reached inside past the thick, velvety, blue curtains that were pulled over the windows. A small golden orb glowed above a glass-top table, casting eerie shadows across the walls as the figure of a brown haired girl sat hunched over a sheet of non-decrepit paper-like substance.

The girl reached under the table and drew an ornate pen with inky blue carvings adorning its surface. With small rivulets of saltine tears flowing down her cheeks, she stared at it; her ocean-eyed stare fixed on the silver moon above the swirling waves.

Shaking herself out of the stupor, she turned her attention back to the sheet spread out before her. Her dainty fingers danced across its surface as the surface began to glow a pale blue shade and words began to form where there was nothing before.

_There is a legend of old where I come from. A legend passed down through hundreds of generations by word of mouth.__ Many say it's just a story concocted by mothers to tell their children on one of those cold, frozen nights to get them to sleep; others say it's nothing more than a fancy fairytale created by an idle mind. T__he complete truth has been lost to the winds of time, but one cannot help but wonder whether there is a small fraction of reality amidst all that fantasy. __**  
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Sobs shook her lithe frame as the words shifted and her bloodshot eyes followed their formation.

_They say humans were first born on a distant planet in one of the farthest reaches of the universe, a planet named Earth. __That planet is now said to be lost to the calamities of time and space, though my brother doubts it even existed._

"How the heck could you let her agree to this?" She tightened her grip on the pen as she heard a familiar voice yell angrily somewhere downstairs.

_I first heard of it from my mother, when I was but a mere child of four. My mother was a wonderful woman, she had a radiant smile that could light up even the darkest of days and her eyes were like two pieces of the ocean turned to crystal, the clearest, most precious gem in the entire universe. We lost her when I was five._

"This was her choice." A second voice replied in a comparatively calmer tone and her tears came harder.

_But I can still remember her words as if she only told them to me yesterday._

_Earth was a planet our ancestors inhabited over a millennia ago. Back in those days, things like intergalactic travel were thought next to impossible. But that's not all. Our forefathers of old times were what we would now call non-benders, humans lacking the necessary genetic make up to manipulate one of the four elements to their will. Even now, a small fraction of the babies born end up with an abnormality like that, but we have medicine to help deal with such problems. But I digress._

"She's being an idiot!" The first voice practically screamed in rage and she clenched her eyes in hopes of stemming the tears that would not stop raining.

_Humans have an inborn drive to explore and discover. But even greater is their need to conquer and expand on what they already have in their possession. It was that very passion which led to one of the darkest eras in human history. The power-hungry leadership of several of the planet's small sectors, known as countries, went to war…_

"And what about you?" the second questioned, his tone darkening.

_Earth was torn apart by their greed, the lush green lands rapidly turning to soiled wastelands, the crystal water turning murky with chemicals and decaying corpses, the fresh air turning toxic thanks to the fumes and putrid stench of burning bodies. A large number of our ancestors perished in that time and for a while, those that survived feared total extinction, with the land, water, and even air growing unfit to sustain life._

For a while, silence reigned and the girl thought that maybe one of them had left. Hugging herself, she finally began to cry aloud, though the sounds of her cries weren't loud enough to leave the room.

_This led to more deaths as unrest grew amongst the survivors. Their numbers dwindled as time went by, many giving into sickness while others lost the will to live. Mother says a brilliant young woman, however, refused to just lie down and take it all. She turned to the very thing that was threatening to destroy everything she held dear and tried to create a solution. She is said to be the creator of the very first jump-drive._

"I'm being her brother."

_She vanished from her workplace one day, without a single trace, and those that knew her thought her dead. To say they were shocked to see her appear in a brilliant flash of lights and sounds would be an understatement. She had found a solution!_

_She presented three other jump-drives to the remaining three families of humans that had survived apart from her own, since she could not in good conscience leave them behind to die while she saved her own family. But she had a few conditions that the other families had to agree to in order for them to be able to use the jump-drive._

"Then you should be supporting her. Not _antagonizing_ her."

_The four families would go their separate ways, each on a separate world, never to interact with the others again so that they could all start over and lead better lives._

_The four families are the ancestors of the humans on each of the four great planets._

_Earth, named after the old homeland by the lady Kioshi herself; Water, named by the great father Pakku, the wise; Air, named by monk Gyato; and Fire, named by lord Azulon._

_Those four are the names that will remain the same in this legend of old, no matter which of the four great planets you would go to. The rest of the story has been changed to suit the histories of the nation that is retelling the legend, to make them appear in a better light._

"I'm trying to protect her, Dad!" her brother yelled just as the glow faded away from the sheet, marking the end of the document.

Her father spoke in a tone too low to carry upstairs. Wiping her eyes with the back of her left hand, the girl clicked the embossed pen once, its tip glowing the same shade of blue as the writing on the document. Pressing it to the paper, she closed her eyes, letting the memories of her life wash over her as she sought inner peace. The deed had been done. She had already accepted it as her fate, so the best she could do now was cope with it all. She couldn't go back on her word even though she knew she'd have the support of a large number of people if she ever decided to. But she couldn't bear to sacrifice others for the sake of her own ideals.

She had made the right choice. Tuning out the conversation that was going on downstairs, she mulled over the words she was about to write down. Taking in a deep, shuddering breath, she opened her eyes and began to write.

-0-

_A hundred years ago, Fire Lord Azulon the Reborn started a war that will probably lead to the destruction of all four great planets. It has already taken the Air Nomads from our midst. Rumor has it, however, that there may still be four small fractions of survivors of the Planet Air travelling the galaxy on four separate meteors, trying to stay out of the eyes of the other three nations._

_Now, the Fire Nation has come knocking on our doors. Left with no other choice, the two tribes of our planet have been forced to contact the Earth Kingdom for support. They had been hoping to form an alliance between the two nations to stop the power hungry advances of the current Fire lord, Fire lord Ozai._

_The Earth Kingdom has no qualms with offering help to our people, but those idiots are demanding something in return for the help they will no doubt offer once the deal is sealed. Had it been money, or jewels, or other worldly riches, Father would not even have given it a second thought because our people are far more important than all the gold that can be mined in the universe. Unfortunately, money is not what the current Earth King desires._

_When I was five years old, the Fire Nation raided the southern Water Tribe. Help had arrived soon enough, but sadly, the Fire Nation soldiers had succeeded in what they had set out to accomplish. The waterbenders of the Southern Water Tribe were no more. I am the only bender who survived that assault. The only reason why I am alive today is because of my mother, who sacrificed her own life to keep me safe._

_I am now considered to be a true prodigy by my people, a true master of my element at the mere age of eighteen. But I digress. The reason why I mentioned the raid on our tribe is because something similar happened to our sister tribe a few months ago. Luckily there were lesser casualties there than there had been here, since the Northern Tribe was actually preparing to leave for battle when the assault had taken place._ _So they had been more prepared than we had been thirteen years ago. Sadly, even with that preparation, lives were still lost. One of the departed was Princess Yue, the heir of the northern Tribe's chief who was betrothed to my brother Sokka. The pain of losing her was far too much for my older brother._

_Maybe that is why he is so opposed to my decision to accept the price the Earth Kingdom has named for their services, but we really don't have much of a choice. Our Tribes have weakened and unless an alliance is formed, my people will suffer a fate similar to the Air Nomads._

_For that very reason, I have just signed away my entire future, my happiness and my very life. _

_The year now is 2011 A.E. and I, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, have accepted a political marriage to help cement the bonds between the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes._

The document stopped glowing as the brunette wiped her tears with the back of her hand. This was what she had agreed to, and even though her betrothed was a mere puppet to the commands of another, in a few hours time as soon as they would land on the Earth Planet, she would exchange the vows that would damn her forever with that man.

_Whatever happened to wanting to fall in love with your perfect guy? _She could hear her brother's voice in her head, yelling at her like he had when he had first found out about the news. _What happened to that hopeless, annoying romantic in you? Katara, think through your decision once more. Are you sure you want to do this?_

_Sokka, romance isn't going to save our people._

_But… Katara._

_I know what I'm doing, brother._ Those were the last words she said to him before boarding the ship that was to take her to Earth Kingdom.

_Katara, you don't have to do this. We don't need their help… that much. We'll come up with something else._ That was her father, trying to dissuade her.

_Dad…_ as much as she had wanted to fall into her father's arms and accept what he offered, she knew that was not to be. She was no longer a child that would miss the hopelessness in her father's eyes as he had gazed at her. Though his words told her otherwise, she knew there was no other way. And so, she sealed her fate._ I won't be able to do this without your support. _

A sudden jolt threw her out of the seat she had been occupying and sent her knocking straight into the wall opposite to her. She heard a sickening crack a fraction of a second before a burning pain shot up her left arm as she fell to the cold, metallic floor. The ship lurched once more and she was thrown against the wall to her left, a strangled cry escaping her lips as the pain in her arm intensified. Looking down, she saw crimson staining her clothes as a white bone poked out of the flesh near her wrist. Trying to keep the nausea at bay as she took in the sight of her mangled arm, she struggled into an upright position. Before she could call for help, however, an alarm began to blare throughout the vessel. Red lights flashed all around her, making her feel sicker than she already felt, the world spinning around her as the implications of the alarm finally caught up to her.

The ship was under attack and she was in no condition to fight. She was a healer as well as a fairly accomplished waterbender, but even she would not be able to heal herself properly and still retain enough energy to fight the intruders. Knowing she had no time to hide, Katara bit her lip as the door to her cabin beeped. There was no water nearby, how would she… It was at that moment that she saw her blood spilled on the floor and the solution came to her. Frowning grimly, she leaned against the wall, using it to support her otherwise teetering frame. As soon as the door slid open, she flicked her uninjured wrist and crimson shards sailed through the air. The intruder had sharp reflexes as they flipped out of the way at the last minute.

"Whoa! Lady, wait a second!" she heard a boyish voice cry out, but she knew better than to let her guard down. Especially in the condition she was currently in. Not even responding, she twisted her fingers in a complex pattern and the shards turned around in mid air, once again flying towards the intruder.

"Hey, you're seriously going to hurt someone with those things!" the intruder protested out once more as he jumped almost seven feet in the air. For a fraction of a second, Katara lost complete control of the shards and they liquefied as they crashed to the floor. Katara found herself gaping at the intruder. How could anyone jump that high? Getting over her shock though, she quickly raised her hands in a claw like motion and the spilled blood formed thin but sharp spikes on the floor where the intruder was about to land.

"Whoa!" he yelled, flailing his arms in the air almost comically, and before she could even figure out what happened, a gust of air crashed into Katara, sending her flying backwards till her head hit something hard and the world turned black.

_**A/N: Well, this concludes the prologue of 'Burning Ambers, Frigid Blues' **_

_**Just a little reminder for you all, the characters here might be a little OOC but that's what you get with AU fics. The circumstances they grow up in are different from cannon so they're bound to react differently in various situations. Events that shaped them up to be who they were in the actual series might not have happened thus their views might be different. Or that what I like to believe anyhow. But I still try to keep their actual personalities intact and incorporate a few quirks of theirs here and there so that even in AU they are still the characters we adore.**_

_**Even though I kinda made it pretty obvious as to who the mysterious intruder was, I'd still love to hear your thoughts. Any questions? Comments? Constructive criticism would be welcomed as well but flames will be used to roast cyber marshmallows.**_

_**-Nims**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Six years back**_

"U-uncle?" A pale skinned boy, barely any older than thirteen, struggled to sit up as the sheets pooled in his lap.

"You should rest, Nephew." A kind faced old man, with graying hair that was more white than black, pushed the boy back down. He eyed the boy's face with a sad expression before turning away to retrieve something from the far end of the room, "The injury you sustained needs to heal."

"I wasn't dreaming, then…" The boy reached up with his hand to feel the bandages wrapped around his head, covering his left eye. Tufts of messy black hair peeked out from underneath the white gauze. He gave a hoarse, slightly hysterical laugh. "He really did it."

"I had warned you not to speak out of turn in front of your father." The boy's uncle shook his head, moving back to the boy's side with a small cup.

"He… He did it." He repeated, disbelief lacing his tone as he stared at the older man standing above him. "I never thought… but he… Uncle, my _father_ burnt me!"

"Given Ozai's nature," the man spoke softly, as he lifted the boy's head up slightly, bringing the cup to his parched lips, "I'm not surprised at all. As disappointed as I am to say this, family does not matter to my brother."

"Uncle…" the boy sputtered, coughing slightly as the bitter taste of the liquid in the cup burnt his throat.

"I'm sorry." the gray haired man gently laid the boy's head back on the pillow. "It was cruel of me, but you need to know this, my boy."

A bitter laugh bubbled up the boy's throat as he felt darkness envelop its arms around him in a loving embrace.

-0-

Determined footsteps echoed through the deathly-silent hallways that led up to throne room. The elderly general paused outside the entrance, waiting for the guard stationed outside to announce his presence before making his way inside with his head held high in a dignified manner. Stopping before the high golden flames, he bent his back in a bow.

The flames parted and a man in his early forties stepped through, his cold yellow eyes taking in the bowed form before him for a while. "Arise." He commanded, motioning a hand towards the others present in the room to leave them alone. "Now, what was this matter of urgent importance that you wished to discuss with me, Iroh?"

The grey haired general straightened and looked his brother straight in the eyes. "It has recently come to my knowledge that you have made attempts to revive the project our grandfather started nearly a century ago." Although his brother's cold eyes gave nothing away, Iroh knew him well enough to know that Ozai had not been expecting the general to have that knowledge.

"I can assure you, general," Ozai responded coolly, "they are nothing but rumors."

"Are you sure, Ozai?" The general's tone was hard.

"These are nothing but rumors." He repeated with the slightest tightening of his jaw.

"I wonder for what purpose, then," Iroh narrowed his eyes slightly, his tone unwavering under the dangerous gaze of his younger brother, "you had the western facility brought back online four months back." That he did this in secret was not something that needed mentioning. Ozai's golden eyes flashed in warning. However, the Fire Lord did not verbalize his thoughts on the matter.

A few minutes passed in this manner, with the only sound being that of the crackling fire behind the Fire Lord. Iroh leveled a firm gaze at the younger brother, trying not to recall the times when such a stare had had his younger brother falling to his feet, begging for forgiveness for whatever mischief he had managed for that day to ire his older sibling so. Now, however… His brother had changed drastically after stepping up to the mantle of the leader of the Fire Nation. Gone was that over-eager young boy that loved to play pranks, get into trouble and be an annoyance in general. In his place was a cold-hearted man who didn't even hesitate to strike down his own flesh and blood if it meant that he would be able to advance in some manner thanks to the outcome of such an action.

Finally the aging general decided to break the moment of silence. There was no use going about it in a subtle way, especially since he already knew his brother would not heed to the subtle hints. That was just the way the Fire Lord was. Though after a direct confrontation, his life would be forfeit, but if it meant saving the supposedly glorious Fire Nation from falling even further from humanity, he was willing to make that sacrifice.

"Whispered rumors they may be for now, Brother," Iroh's eyes narrowed a bit more, "but surely you do realize that the council will order a thorough investigation into the matter once these rumors reach them."

"Have you ever wondered about how powerful a weapon we would have had at our hands had Great-Grandfather's project succeeded?"

"Our forefather's search for power had led to the destruction of our home planet." Iroh answered evenly, "There was a reason why the council forced him to shut it down."

"Please," Ozai laughed derisively, "don't tell me you believe in that old bedtime story."

"Our grandfather wiped out the Air Nomads in his search for that power." The grey haired man shook his head in disappointment. "I had hoped I would not have to do this, but you leave me with no other choice, Brother. I will not allow the name our nation to be sullied further with more mass exterminations." Standing up tall to look the younger one in the eye, Iroh spoke with authority that befit his position, "Fire Lord Ozai, as the head of the Royal Council, it is my duty to inform my fellow advisors of what exactly you have been secretly conspiring to. You have three days to order the termination of this project, or the Royal Council shall soon be holding a voting to determine the fate of the crown." The hard look in Ozai's eyes told him his fate was sealed, but Iroh was determined to see it through to the end. "I don't think I need to mention this to you, Brother, but after what you did to Prince Zuko three years ago, you have already fallen out of favor with the majority of the members. It would be wise to abandon so foolish a task while it has yet to take wing."

-0-

"Guess what I overheard Father say the other day, Zuzu?" Princess Azula, the younger sister to the heir of the Royal throne, said as she strode into her brother's private gardens with her head held high. The gardens once belonged to the Fire Lady, but the Prince claimed them once she went missing a few years back. It had been a couple of months later, when the Prince had exploded at the Fire Lord in front of the Royal Council on the matter regarding the lack of effort being put in to locate their mother, that he had received the mark of disgrace from the Fire Lord. The council head, General Iroh, her _esteemed_ uncle, had vehemently expressed his disapproval at the Fire Lord's brash behavior. Azula smothered the urge to snort at that thought. Her brother should have known better than to speak in front of their lord in that manner. And in front of so many people as well.

Her hungry, golden eyes took in the Prince's sweaty form as he landed in a low crouch, and a cruel smirk made its way to her rosy lips as the Prince shot an annoyed look in her direction.

"Whatever it is that you have to say, I'm not interested in hearing it, Azula." Prince Zuko spat as he punched his clenched fist in the air before him, a brilliant ball of orange-ish golden flame erupting from his outstretched limb. Without even waiting for it to disperse, he turned around, bringing his leg around in a high kick, an arch of flames following the path of his foot.

"Even if it's about our beloved Uncle?" she asked slyly, leaning against the trunk of an old tree in a casual manner, her grin widening slightly as her brother's carefully built mask of indifference crumbled and then shattered as he stumbled in his landing, falling flat on his face. Breathing hard, the prince pushed himself to his feet. The sweat glistened on his body in the silvery moonlight, casting phantom shadows to dance across his face as he closed the distance between them.

"What did you say?" he hissed, narrowed golden eyes, so very much like her own, yet lacking the sadistic gleam that the princess's golden orbs possessed surveyed her face closely, searching for any hints of lies. Azula inwardly smiled at her brother's naivety. She was a master of the art of lying and deception. There had yet to be a man who could see past her carefully constructed masks.

"I said, would you still not be interested in what I had to say even if it concerns the Dragon of the West?" she repeated calmly, loving the way her brother's face seemed to lose all color, which in the pale light of the full moon overhead was quite a feat in itself.

-0-

"Uncle!"Zuko burst through the doors to the old general's chambers, the very set of doors that he had had a habit of running through as an innocent child. Breathing hard, having run all the way from the Fire Lady's garden to the Council's part of the palace, the prince stilled at the entrance. In the warm, yellow light spilling into the room from the open doors, narrowed eyes carefully surveyed the dark room for any sign of misdeeds. One of the windows was partially open, a light breeze causing silk curtains to flutter lightly, casting dancing, silvery shadows across the carpeted floor.

"Uncle?" He called out once again, cautiously stepping further into the room, his ears straining for to hear even the slightest squeak. His muscles were coiled in preparation to fend off any would-be attackers. Azula's words had managed to shake him to the core. With his heart pounding against his ribcage, the sixteen year old strained his eyes to try and make out the shape of his uncle's hulking body. The curtains were still pulled apart on the four poster bed, so the idea that the old general might be resting was out. Taking another couple of steps inside, he felt his breath catch in his throat. There it was. A faint rasping sound, the one he had been dreading to hear ever since Azula…

"Uncle!" Throwing caution to the winds, the young prince flicked his wrist and brought a glowing orb of fire into existence in his upturned palm. Using it to light the way, he searched the darkness for the person he was looking for.

"Z-Zuko…" the scarred prince felt his blood run cold as he stopped by the entrance to his uncle's private study. There, lying in a rapidly growing pool of his own blood, lay the Dragon of the West, deep gouge-like marks running all across his back, exposing the white of his spine. Letting the fire die out, Zuko fell on his knees next to the dying man.

"Uncle," he called desperately, turning the general onto his back just so he could look at his old, wizened face, "Who was it? Who did this? Tell me, Uncle. I'll hunt them down and-"

"Z-Zuko," Iroh's breath rattled in his chest as he raised a shaky hand to capture one of the prince's. "H-help me…up." He ordered, struggling to sit up despite his critical condition.

"But, Uncle, you're-"

"I don't have a lot of t-time… left, Nephew," the Dragon of the West tightened his grip on his nephew's hand as he managed to somehow push his body off the ground. The prince, finally gathering his wits, started helping the old man along. "My writing d-desk." he instructed weakly. Zuko slung one of his arms across his shoulders, staggering slightly under the dead weight of the old man before managing to find his footing. Slowly, feeling something warm slide down his pale cheeks as he hastened to obey the general's request, as he pulled the dying man across the length of the vast study towards the ebony desk, the prince wondered distantly just when exactly he had started crying.

Iroh asked him to help him get under the desk. Once there, the old man started fiddling with something, until a loud beep sounded and the ebony top of the desk slid open to reveal a hidden compartment. Helping his uncle up at his request once again, trying to ignore the way the warm, life-giving liquid flowed out of the old man's body, Zuko found his eyes widening in shock at the contents that lay inside the desk once the general had entered a few more passwords on the panel installed in one of the corners of the compartment.

-0-

The guard stifled a yawn as he rounded a corner, wondering idly why the hell he agreed to take on this job in the first place. He'd have been much better off tending to the fields at his father's farm. Despite the Fire Lord having recently had a few rather high-profile prisoners moved into this place, nothing big was ever going to happen here. The security was just that tight. Plus, three out of the six _high-profile_ prisoners were just teenage brats. For the life of him, he could not figure out why kids like them would demand such high security.

As he rounded another corner, the newly recruited guard felt his thoughts drift back to his life at home before his induction into the Royal Prison Guard. He had taken this job in search of excitement, but now after four months of nothing but boring routine rounds at one of the sub levels of the prison, he was beginning to question his mental state at the time when he had signed up for this job. What in the world had- WHAM!

As the world grew dark around him, the guard's last thought was along the lines of, "Damn it! Something finally happens and I won't be a part of it. I really should have just stayed at the farm."

The dark figure slinked back into the shadows, pulling the unconscious guard along. Five minutes later, a young man with messy dark hair, bright golden eyes, and a gruesome burn marring the left side of his face walked out, dressed in the guard's uniform. Pulling out a key card from a bag that was now missing from the guard's person, the young man made his way down the narrow, torch-lit corridors. Consulting a small device in his hand he rounded a corner, making a series of swift twists and turns until he reached the turn that led to the last corridor at the lowest level. Pulling out two tiny, black-colored spheres from the bag, he rolled them around the bend, holding his breath as a soft hiss sounded on the other side, followed by the dull thumps of the guards falling to the ground. Peeking around the bend, the young man carefully made his way across the dimly lit corridor, not bothered about the security camera overhead as it scanned the entire corridor at repeated intervals- he had already taken care of the video feed before he had entered the prison. Casting a passing glance at the five guards sprawled out on the floor in front of the doors, he consulted the rectangular device in his hand once again. Hissing out a curse under his breath, the scarred man took out a rectangular, nondescript card and pressed it against a panel next to the first door to his right. The metal slid apart with an almost-soundless hiss, revealing a translucent shield of pure energy blocking the entrance to the cell. Inside, slumped against the wall in a rather bored manner, he spied a dark-haired boy around his age, carelessly making a couple of loose rocks hover above his hand in a loose circular motion. It was an Earthbender.

Shaking his head, the young man proceeded to the next cell, pressing the card against a similar panel to reveal the energy field that was keeping the prisoner inside. This one too was a dark haired boy, but unlike the last one, he seemed to be practicing a type of armed Fire Nation martial arts, though he obviously seemed to be missing the dual blades required. Searching the prisoner's profile for what he was looking for, the man moved on, feeling disappointment well up in his heart. This wasn't the one he was looking for either. What if…What if that particular subject was being detained someplace else? The next cell, however, proved to be a lot more promising as the metal doors slid apart to reveal a darkened room with a tall, altar-like structure in the middle. Chained to it, with his arms and legs pulled apart, was a boy almost three years younger than himself, somewhere around thirteen years of age at most. His head was sagging against his chest in an almost dejected manner, but the young man felt a small, bitter smile form on his lips as he took in the blue, arrow-shaped tattoos marking this prisoner's bare arms and bald head. Without even looking he could already tell that similar tattoos were also present on this boy's feet. Hooking up the device in his hand to the panel, he waited a second for the device to hack into the prison's security databases and unlock the cell.

"You're the one they call subject 112 for the Avatar Project, correct?" he asked silently as he stepped over the threshold, waiting for the prisoner's confirmation. Tired yet defiant grey eyes met his, the boy's face scrunched up in thinly veiled anger. The fake guard stepped closer to the altar.

"For the last time…" the prisoner inhaled deeply, "My name is Aang!" and with that he breathed out, a powerful gust of wind blowing towards the man, knocking him off his feet.

"An Airbender," The man gasped in surprise, his eyes widening slightly before he managed to regain his footing a split second before he could crash into the prison wall. "I thought they were all wiped out."

"Apparently not." The boy bit out, shooting him a look that managed to appear indignant and hurt at the same time, "Who are you anyways?"

"Someone who's going to get you out of here," then, without waiting for the boy's response, the man purposefully strode over to the altar, his golden eyes challenging the young Airbender to repeat his earlier stunt. Satisfied by the lack of blowing winds, the man proceeded to swipe his card through the slots built into the metal pillars. With a small beep, the shackles holding the boy in place fell apart, letting him crash onto his knees. Pushing himself back on his feet using shaky arms, the prisoner named Aang looked up at his savior, almost immediately noticing the scar that marked his face.

"That looks like it hurt." He commented softly, taking note of the slight flinch as the teen dressed in a prison guard's uniform turned his back towards him. Either this guy was too proud of his abilities, or a brave, trusting fool to have turned his back on a potential enemy. There wasn't anything else but his morals stopping Aang from striking him down as he walked in front of him.

"It did." He replied in a hoarse whisper as he stopped near the entrance to the cell. "Let's go." Aang hastened to follow. It wouldn't do well to be left behind only because he was too slow to keep up. As they passed the cells housing the other two prisoners, though, Aang couldn't help but freeze in his tracks.

"What about them?" he asked, indicating towards the dark-haired prisoners now standing just feet away from the energy shields.

"Not my concern." The young man answered in a clipped tone. "I only came to get you."

"But we can't just leave them here." Aang protested. Even though he had no idea who they were, it felt wrong to Aang to just leave them there while he got away.

"They're not my problem, Avatar." The fake prison guard ground out as he grabbed one of Aang's hands and began leading him away.

"Either you take us along or I'll raise the alarm to let the guards know you're helping a prisoner escape." One of them, the one that the fake guard had spotted practicing katas earlier, threatened in an even tone. "You know as well as I that these shields are designed to alert the guards if anyone tries to jam the sensors around the door." The scarred man stilled, his eyes taking on a hard look as he stared at the insolent prisoner that had just threatened to sabotage everything.

"Jet and I are both skilled fighters." The other offered in a slightly calmer tone. "We can help you fight off the guards that will no doubt come after you two."

Clenching his fists in indecision, the man looked over at the Airbender, only to find him giving the imposter the most pathetic and pitiful look in the history of benders.

"I won't let you get out of here with just that, runt." The first prisoner, Jet, added menacingly.

"Hey!" the 'runt' cried out indignantly.

The scarred teen turned his gaze back towards Jet, the dark haired prisoner meeting his gaze squarely. "I'll do anything to get out of this place." He told the imposter.

"If I take you two along, know one thing," he warned, walking purposefully towards the cell that housed the Earthbender, ignoring the hotheaded Jet just to spite him. Hooking the device up to the panel, he waited for the code to crack. "If either of you slow us down or prove to be a liability, I won't hesitate to get rid of you. You will have to stick with me until we're off this planet. Once we're far away from here, all three of you are free to go."

"I'm Haru," the prisoner said as he stepped out of the cell, swiftly kicking one of the stirring guards in the head to knock him out once again. The imposter gave him a small nod before moving to cell that housed Jet. "We've wasted enough time already. Let's go."

Twenty minutes later as a small ship took flight from a private portion of the Royal Launching Bay, a research facility in the west blew up in a brilliant display of smoldering flames and loud explosions, the resulting confusion providing the perfect cover for the four fugitives to get away unnoticed.

_**A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this update even though I killed Iroh. ^_^;**_

_**Feel free to leave a review if it was too confusing or if you have any questions. Constructive criticism would also be welcome.**_

_**-Nims**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Took me long enough, but it's finally here. **_

_**A big thank you to everyone who added this to their alerts and faves. ( I can't believe it's already been made a part of two C2s :D ) Anyhow, I hope this chapter isn't too confusing. This takes place right after where the prologue ended though there are a few time-skips. Feel free to ask if you find something confusing. And uh… point out any mistakes that I might have made. This chapter has not been beta'd yet but I'm too impatient to wait for my beta to send me the edited version. So yeah… Enjoy!**_

He saw the girl collide with the metal wall before slumping to the floor in a crumpled heap, blood staining her clothes red and painting the ground around her a sickening crimson. Long suppressed memories began to surface as he stood frozen in shock at the doorway, staring at the blood pool around the girl's body.

"_Listen to me Aang. You need to get out of here. Lead the young ones out of here. We'll hold them off long enough for you to escape."_

Immediately pushing the memory out of his mind before it could overtake him completely, the sixteen year old stalked inside the cabin, muscles tensed for another surprised attack from a hidden enemy. He breathed a sigh of relief when thankfully he found no one else waiting to ambush him. Adjusting the cap on his head, he pushed up his sleeves to reveal a pair of blue arrow-like tattoos that marked the slightly tanned skin of both his arms. He spotted something atop a desk and he immediately hurried over towards it. Ignoring the unconscious girl on the ground, he moved closer to pick up the glittering object, noticing with a small grin that it appeared to be quite an expensive writing pen. He spotted a sheet of thin plastic, roughly the size of a notebook and he threw it in the satchel he had been carrying on his person, slung across his shoulder. Looking around, he scavenged several other objects that he decided to add to his growing collection of expensive objects in his satchel. Once assured that he had rid the room of all its valuables he turned on his heels swiftly making his way towards the door.

As he stepped across the threshold, his gaze slid over to where the girl, he had just knocked unconscious lay on the ground. Though her wound was not exactly severe enough to be life threatening if taken care of in time, he cold judge by the amount of blood she was losing and at the rate she was losing it that the girl would be dead before any sort of help would be able to reach her. Shaking his head, he made to leave but something inside him knew that he would never be able to live with himself if he let the girl die. Groaning at himself for what he was about to do, he pulled the ties of his satchel to secure the items inside before flinging it across his shoulder once again.

"I hope he doesn't kill me for this one." He mumbled under his breath as he approached the unmoving, bleeding brunette.

-0-

He ducked under another attack, using his foot to bend the air before him to clear the path to his destination, flinging men left and right as he ran through the narrow corridors. The alarm was still blaring overhead in that annoying manner but he didn't really pay much mind to it. The alarm always blared.

As he rounded the final corner, he readjusted the deadweight of the girl in his arms as he slid down to the floor with her being partially in his lap. Now all he had to do was guard the entrance until the others came back. As he sat there, catching his breath, his thoughts began to drift once again.

"_You children are our only hope now. See to it Aang that they receive proper care, alright my boy?"_

"Aang," the young Airbender looked up from his spot on the floor upon hearing his name being called.

"Hey Toph," he passed the girl that approached him a half smile. Not that she'd be able to see it of course. She was blind as a bat.

He fiddled with the wooden beads of the bracelet he wore around his right wrist. It had been a gift from his guardian monk back when he had truly been twelve years old. Now at the age of hundred and sixteen he barely looked any older than your average teen. It's funny how the CAST short for Cryogenic Animated Suspension Tanks tend to preserve your body. Well… his had been one of the few successful cases. The other monks that had been captured with him in that raid and brought to the Lab Four had all died after they had been stuffed into the CAST. Or rather, their tanks had been deactivated when the project had been shut down. The older monks had all been killed in the raid. The younger ones, brought to the probably the most horrible place in existence in the entire universe… Lab Four. There were not many that survived the initial experiments that were carried out on their bodies.

He had been one of the few unlucky ones, strong enough to survive those starting experiments. In fact… he had been the only one unlucky enough to actually survive and reach the age he had.

"Hotman wants you to go check up on her. Tend to that arm of hers."

"But I did check up on her an hour ago. She's still out cold." He argued, climbing to his feet anyways.

"Oh and he wants to see you too." She added carelessly, "Asked me to tell you to report to his cabin once you're done checking on the girl."

"Right." Aang deflated slightly, "Is he mad?"

"Hotman? Oh you know him, don't you?" she gave him a teasing grin as she punched him on the shoulder. Hard. "He only ranted for about an hour and a half while you were busy saving the life of your latest conquest. I couldn't really tell what he was going on about half the time but I did catch a few words including strangle, Airbender and stupid."

Aang paled making Toph burst out in laughter.

"Oh God, Twinkletoes," she gasped, wiping a fake tear from her eye as she leaned against his shoulder, "you are so easy to mess with."

"Toph, you think everyone is easy to mess with," Teo said as he entered the Airbender's cabin on a wheelchair. The boy, who was somewhere around the same age as Aang and Toph give or take a year or two, was one of the few survivors of a destroyed Earth Kingdom colony. Mimicking the fashion in which the Airbenders from a century ago used to live on asteroid colonies, some of the lower cast from the Earth Kingdom had chosen to do the same in an attempt to distance themselves from the oncoming war. Too bad, they had ended up becoming the first of the Earth Kingdom to be attacked by the ruthless Fire Nation. Teo's father had been an inventor who went around by the name of Mechanist. Apparently the Mechanist had been anticipating an attack of that sort and had prepared for it accordingly by creating escape pods. Though there had been more than a fifty that had been launched into space only three pods had made it to a spaceport in Omashu. Teo, Longshot and Smellerbee were the ones that had been occupying those pods. Unfortunately for Teo, his pod had sustained some damage during the escape and as such had ended up crash landing on the port, which cost him the use of the lower part of his body. Damage to part of his spinal cord had rendered him stuck to a wheelchair for life. The boy was a brilliant inventor though and that had been one of the reasons why he had ended up aboard the _Jasmin Dragon_ as a part of it crew.

"Oh, hey there Mini-Mechanic," Toph grinned as the wheelchair-bound boy drew closer.

"Hello Toph, Aang."

"Teo." Aang grinned at the sight of the brunette.

"I heard you brought aboard a new member for the crew."

"Not exactly." Aang grinned sheepishly. "She's still kinda out of it. And I'm not sure whether she'd like to join our crew or not."

"Then why did you bring her along?" Teo cocked his head in question.

"Well… She got hurt because of me and-"

"And being the gentleman that he is," Toph interrupted loudly, "Twinkletoes couldn't really let her bleed to death, so he decided to bring her here so that we would treat her and be all nice to her. So that once she sees how nice we all are, she'll decide to stay behind and fall in love Aangy and they'll both end up living happily ever after and have hundreds and hundreds of tiny Airbenders running all over the ship."

"Wow," the brunette breathed, "you have _one_ overactive imagination, Toph."

"Just telling it as I _see_ it, Mini-Mechanic." She replied, ignoring Aang's sputtered protests as she straightened up and turned to leave. "I'll leave you to your chores then Twinkletoes. See ya."

"Where in the galaxy does she come up with these names?" Teo groaned in exasperation as soon as the girl was out the door.

"It's a talent, Mini-Mechanic." He heard her reply from down the corridor.

Shaking his head, Teo turned his attention back to his friend.

"Have you been to see Zuko yet?"

"No, not yet." The Airbender replied with a shake of his head, "but I'm going to once I'm done checking on the girl.

"I see. Well, while you're there, put this on her will you?" he said, handing a simple metallic bracelet to Aang.

"Uhh… why?" the grey-eyed boy asked in confusion as he took the proffered piece of jewellery anyways.

"Remember those inhibitors that we saw some of those Firebenders using on their prisoners?" Teo replied waiting for an affirmative from his friend before continuing, "Well, Smellerbee managed to nick one of those a few raids back and I've been working on my own version of those things. It'll keep the Waterbender from killing you when she's awake."

"Does Zuko know about it?"

"He's the one that asked me to give it to you."

"Oh…"

"Don't worry. He wasn't _that_ angry when I went to see him an hour ago."

"But Toph said-"

"Toph _always_ makes things seem worse than they really are."

"Oye! I do not." They heard the girl's indignant cry from some other part of the ship.

Teo banged his knuckles against the metal wall once, "it's not very polite to listen in on other people's conversations, Toph." He reprimanded her lightly.

"Screw you, Teo!" she screamed angrily making the teenagers laugh.

"Looks like I made her angry." Teo grinned.

"You better tread carefully around her from now on." Aang mirrored his grin, "She is so gonna whoop your ass this time."

"I never back down from a good challenge." He smirked before adding in a slightly louder tone, "I dare you to do your worst, Toph."

"This means war!" they heard her declaration.

"Toph, Teo," they heard the ship's intercom come to life, "Zuko has asked me to let you know that if your prank war results in the destruction of half the ship this time, he is going to lock you both in solitary confinement for a fortnight. Oh and Aang," the voice of their pilot added after a while, "Zuko has asked to see you as soon as you are done tending to your crush."

"My crush?" the young Airbender groaned as soon as the intercom was switched off, "did he _have_ to announce that for the whole ship to hear? Toph is never gonna let me live this one down."

"There, there Aang." Teo patted his back sympathetically, "If Zuko got Haru to embarrass you on the intercom, I think it's pretty safe to assume he's not as angry with you as he's letting everyone think he is."

"I hope you're right." Aang sighed as he gulped, "because if you're wrong, it's my funeral."

"I get to inherit your glider then, right?" Teo chirped a little too happily.

"Oh shut it." the Airbender grumbled as he made his way out into the ship's narrow corridor.

"Good luck with your crush." His friend sang, causing the Airbender to make a rude gesture in his direction. This only made the former laugh in response.

-0-

"_Grab the other brats and let's go. Damned monks already wasted so much of our time."_

"_You will not lay a hand upon these children."_

"_Oh shove it Airbender."_

"_No! Gyatso!"_

"_Quit squirming you brat! Oye! Someone knock this one out."_

"_You killed him! You killed him!"_

"_What's the matter Zhao? Can't handle a little Airbender?"_

"_Let me go! You killed him!"_

"_Quit struggling you stupid Airbender."_

"_No, Gyatso!"_

"_Knock him out already!"_

Aang almost jumped a foot in the air when the door beeped and slid open behind him.

"I should have known I would find you here." He heard the voice of his captain behind him.

"O-oh…" he turned around warily, bracing himself for the older teen's reaction, "H-Hello Zuko."


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: I love my Beta. She got this chapter back to me under two hour's time so you get to read a mistake free chapter! Enjoy~**_

_**Three Years Back**_

"Lady Bei Fong has sent me to assist you with packing for the trip, Miss Toph." A servant dressed in immaculate green robes bowed as she stepped into a dimly lit but well-decorated room. A girl of merely thirteen sat primly on her bed, her pale green robes brushing the marble floor as her bare feet peeked out from under the hem. Her hair was pulled back from her face in a simple bun at the back of her head, a delicate headband holding back the shorter locks and keeping them from falling in her eyes, though a few stubborn strands still escaped. Her green eyes, as pale in shade as the color of her robes, stared sightlessly somewhere to the left of the servant as she raised her head at the sound of the woman's voice.

"Please thank Mother for me once you have finished the task assigned to you." The girl said softly as she lowered her head a little, her hands neatly folded in her lap.

"Is there anything specific you would like for me to pack for you, Miss Toph?"

"No." The girl shook her head in a negative. "You can pack according to how my mother instructed."

"Very well." The woman stated as she set about performing the task assigned to her. Half an hour later, the woman was dismissed by the young heir to the Bei Fong fortune as the girl politely asked to be left alone until the time for their departure came. Once the door to her room was shut securely and the sounds of the servant's footsteps had completely receded, the girl jumped off of her perch on the bed, destroying the image of fragile delicacy that she had put on display. Heading over to the door without looking around for any support, the girl put her hand on the door and stilled for a fraction of a second before a lopsided grin formed on her face as she retreated to the farthest corner of her room.

She stomped her bare foot on the ground once and then swept it across the floor. A patch of the marble broke off cleanly from the rest of the floor, jumping in time with her stomp before sliding across the floor to the right, following the motion of her foot. Grinning, the girl bent down and retrieved an empty backpack that looked rather old and well-worn from use. Dumping it on the ground beside her, she rummaged inside before retrieving a dark green t-shirt, a pair of loose-fitting cargo pants and a dull, dirty yellow jacket that had a hood attached. Stuffing the clothes inside the backpack, the girl then proceeded to pull out a pair of boots with numerous laces going this way and that. They seemed rather ordinary at first glance, but upon closer inspection one could see the sheet of metal that made up the entire sole of the shoes. The plates were completely covered in a layer of earth, a result of mud drying on the shoes after their owner had had a stroll outside in the rain and had forgotten to clean them later on. The girl hastily shoved them inside the bag before shouldering it on her right side once she had finished zipping it up. Standing up, the girl swept the front part of her foot inward while keeping her heel firmly planted on the ground as the marble slab slid back into place to hide the secret compartment.

Once satisfied with her work, the blind girl made her way over to the sturdy wooden dresser. Pulling open the bottom drawer she retrieved a jewelry box that was carved out of stone with pale, champagne-colored stones and emeralds set in the artifact and its carvings. Setting it on top of the dresser, she removed the lid and pulled out a dark, almost-onyx blob. Pushing it with her fingers, she elongated the blob into a somewhat-thin cylinder that she quickly wrapped around her left upper arm once she had pulled back the sleeve. She straightened her clothes after that and placed the box back in its place. Confidently marching over to the door, she slipped outside, ducking behind various decoration articles as soon as she felt someone nearby. Once she arrived at her destination, it was just a matter of how sneaky she could be to achieve her goal.

Fifteen minutes later, the girl was back in her room, seated on the edge of the bed like a delicate porcelain doll, no sign of the unruly teen that had snuck off to the docking bay earlier on.

"Your parents are awaiting your arrival at the foyer, Miss Toph." the servant announced as she approached the blind girl and caught hold of her hand. The girl slid off her perch gracefully with the woman's help. Once on the ground, she slid her feet into a pair of dainty-looking silk slippers. She allowed the servant to lead her to where her parents were waiting.

"That will be all." Lady Bei Fong said primly as she took her daughter's hand and dismissed the servant. The blind girl let her mother lead her to the ship and help her board.

"We'll be sitting right across from you, alright, sweetheart?" the woman said as she buckled the girl in place.

"Yes, Mother." The girl responded quietly with a small nod as she lowered her head and waited for the ship to depart.

-0-

"If you need anything at all, just press the buzzer on your right side table, alright, sweetheart?" Lady Bei Fong said lovingly as she tucked her daughter into her bed. "Anushka is in the room right next to yours." she said, referring to the girl's personal maid and caretaker when the thirteen-year-old's mother was away or too busy to dote over her only, disabled daughter."You father and I have to attend a formal dinner event after the deal has been sealed, so it may be a while till we come back."

"Alright." The girl nodded as her mother kissed her forehead."Hey, Mom?"

"Yes, darling?"

"…I love you and Dad."

"We love you too, sweetheart. Now get some rest, alright? You must be tired from the journey."

"Yes."

-0-

The night was peaceful and silent until a gong was struck twelve times somewhere in the city to mark the beginning of a new day. The comforter slid off the thirteen-year-old's petite form as she got to her feet and silently slid out the door. She paused once outside the door to her parents' room in the huge mansion, whispering something under her breath before cautiously making her way across the dark house, the lack of light not bothering her in the least as she used a sense other than her sight to navigate the hallways. Sneaking past the guards like she had done numerous times before, she snuck into the small but luxurious private travel ship. Making her way to the very back, she got into a kneeling position on the ground as she placed her hands on the floor. Her fingers felt around for something before a small grin lit up her face as she slid her fingers into a small niche in the metal sheet and peeled it off like it was nothing more than plastic wrap.

She pulled out the backpack she had packed earlier and pulled the metallic sheet back across the floor, leaving no signs whatsoever of it having been shifted at all. Slipping on the backpack, she began making her way back to her room. Her heightened sense of hearing, an ability that developed on its own to make up for her lack of vision, picked up the faint sounds of a discussion going on in her parents' room. Her body froze on its own outside their door when she heard them mention her name. Cautiously approaching the door, she placed her hand against the stone wall, feeling the minute vibrations in the palm of her hand as the sound waves travelled through the stone. She slipped her bare feet off the carpeted floor, onto the cold marble to better sense the vibrations if anyone approached. Though she was blind, lacking the sense of sight through which everyone else saw the world, the Bei Fong heir had, unknown to her parents, learnt another way to 'see' the world. It had been an accident how she had discovered this extraordinary power of hers, but it had been something that had helped her immensely through her childhood.

Her parents considered her to be a fragile flower, a small lotus that needed to be sheltered, protected, and supported to help it bloom, as was indicated by her name, Toph Bei Fong. Through the years, she had developed and honed her skill as a silent protest against their over-protective and careful ways, using her spare time to sneak out of the estate and wander around the city disguised as an unruly street rat. At nine years of age, on one such venture she had ended up getting trapped in a rather sticky situation. Knowing that if her parents were to find out about her sneaking out of her home, they'd only increase the number of people watching her to ensure their delicate, fragile little daughter would not come in contact with the big bad world, she had struggled to find a way out of the situation. Had the place where she had been trapped been made out of stone or earth or any other mineral, she would have been out of there in less than a heartbeat. As her luck would have it, though, she had been trapped in a small room made entirely out of metal. Her captors were hunters from the Fire Nation, no doubt looking for expendable earthbenders. Everyone knew that the only thing that could keep an earthbender trapped was metal, since wood could easily be broken through using a bit of earthbending and ice would always melt into water from the body heat. Fueled by her desperation to ensure that her parents never found out her secret lest the only amount of freedom she had be taken away, she had proceeded to banging her tiny fists against the metal walls of her prison. The firebenders' guard stationed to watch after her never knew what hit him when the metal gave way under the force of her punches. That was the day that Toph Bei Fong discovered that she had a mutation that allowed her to bend metal, making her the first metalbender in the history of the Earth Kingdom.

Genetic mutations, although rare, were not unheard of so it came as little surprise to the Bei Fong heir that she too had this anomaly in her genetic makeup. Toph knew for a fact that there existed benders that were capable of bending sand, and then there were ones that could bend blood, though they were extremely rare and very messed up in the head. She had heard of the controversial trial of Hama from the southern water tribe. She was an old woman who had disguised herself as an immigrant to the Fire Nation. The woman had proceeded to pick out her victims from the ordinary citizens of one of the poorer Fire Nation villages, bending the very blood in their bodies to draw them to some distant cave where she proceeded to kill them in the name of revenge. Apparently, her entire family had been slaughtered in one of the Fire Nation raids. The woman had been caught and then executed publically in the Fire Nation, though news of her deeds had reached every corner of the galaxy. The Waterbenders had another mutation gene, though this was slightly more common in comparison to bloodbending. That was healing. From the Fire Nation, there were the lighteningbenders, though just like bloodbenders, they were extremely rare and there had not been many benders through their nation's history. The current Fire Lord was rumored to be one.

"Lao, perhaps we should wait a few more years."

"Poppy, the Yum Soon Han family will take care of her just as lovingly as we have." She heard her father speak.

"But our daughter is merely thirteen. Perhaps when she turns a few years older, we could try with the Pang family. Their son-"

"The Yum Soon Han are more well off then the Pangs. They would be able to provide for her the proper care that our delicate little flower needs."

"But marriage at such a young age is just…"

"Poppy, we were married when you were fifteen. How much of a difference would two years make?"

"I know, Lao, but still…"

"Deals like this don't come by every day. They have agreed to take care of our flower. Their son will make a good husband for our Toph, and what more can we ask for when they have agreed to start a joint venture with us to mine the asteroid belt past Gaoling?"

Heart pounding fiercely in her chest, Toph pushed away from the wall as though it were acid. She could not believe what she had just overheard. She had always known that her fate was to be married off to some rich landlord's son as a part of some business deal, for marriage contracts to seal deals were something of a deep rooted tradition in the elite circles of the Earth Kingdom. But by Kyoshi! She had only just turned thirteen! How could they already be thinking about marrying her off like she was… like she was some helpless little girl! Resigned as she was to her ultimate fate, the blind girl was not yet ready to be sold off as an unwanted piece of property. Making a decision that would forever change the rest of her life; she turned around the way she had come, starting to run. Something warm and wet trailed down her cheeks as she turned her back on everything she had ever known and left, never to look back.

-0-

She walked around aimlessly through the busy streets of Serpent's Port. Stopping near a bridge, she leaned against its side. Crossing her arms, she calmly observed the passersby, waiting for someone suitable enough to become her next target.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" she heard a young boy's voice speak as a group of four passed by her. Judging from the speaker's height, she'd put him to be around the same age as her. He moved around somewhat oddly, though. Almost like... he was floating rather than walking. His footsteps were so light, even though he appeared to be perfectly healthy.

"Yes, Avatar," an older, irritated voice replied, "this _is_ the right place." This voice belonged to the boy who was leading the group. He was older than the first boy, walking with purposeful, confident strides. He seemed to know what he was doing and it showed in the way he held himself.

"Are you-" the boy who was addressed as Avatar started to speak. She wondered what sort of parents would name their child Avatar, but then shrugged the thought away. It was entirely possible the kid had given that name to himself. After all, no one in their right mind would name their daughter 'The Blind Bandit'.

"For the last time, brat!" the third boy interrupted angrily, "if he says this is the place, then this is the place. Will you, for the love of whatever you monks believe in, _shut up_?"Toph's interest was perked. Avatar was a monk? She had heard that there were a few of them travelling on some of the habitable comets, but she had yet to see one. It had been over three months since she had run away from home, stowing away on a ship that was leaving port the night she had heard her parents discuss her marriage. She'd heard news about the missing Bei Fong heiress. It had been the hottest topic around for quite a while, actually. Many speculated she had been kidnapped for ransom, others thought she had been kidnapped for revenge, though revenge against what was a little unclear. Although now they were beginning to say that maybe she had been killed, since no one had ever contacted her parents with demands of ransom. Sometimes, when she was alone at night, she'd think about her mother and father, feeling rather bad for putting them through so much pain and worry. She would also wonder about the humiliation she must have caused her parents in front of the Yum Soon Han family, but thoughts about being sold off like an unwanted but precious piece of furniture made her stomp the guilt away. She would marry on her own terms, when she was actually old enough to worry about having a family. Maybe when she was ready, she would contact her parents and let them know she was alive. For now, she was content with letting the world think that Toph Bei Fong was dead. In a sense, the heiress already was. She was Toph, The Blind Bandit.

Focusing her attention on the group that the monk, Avatar, was a part of, she pushed away from the bridge, silently following behind them. They seemed like an interesting bunch of guys, and she didn't really have anything better to do. The weight of the money bag she had nicked off of that cheating merchant a few hours back pressed comfortingly against her thigh through the pocket of her pants. The life of a pick-pocketing street rat suited her just fine. Oh, if only her parents could see their delicate little flower now. Snickering at the thought of their reactions to her current state, she made her way through the crowd, never losing 'sight' of her targets, despite there being many people separating her from the four. She held back as they asked around a few shady-looking shops for a guy named 'The Deserter'. The four were directed to a bar located at the other end of the port. The group's leader flashed something small and round and flat, almost like a coin made out of stone, to the man standing guard and they were taken to a small side-entrance to the bar. Curious about what they might be doing inside, she hung around, keeping her senses on the lookout for their four distinctive heartbeats. She was almost falling asleep, sitting on a pile of abandoned crates on the opposite side of the bar, when the side door opened and the group of four piled out, each member carrying a rather heavy pack on his back.

"I thank you for your help in our time of need." The boy that posed as the leader of the group spoke to the man inside the door with a bow.

"The Dragon of the West was most helpful to me in my time of need. This was the least I could do to repay his kindness." The older man that stood inside the building handed the leader a small package. "Should you ever find yourself in trouble or in need, do know that the Dragon had many more friends spread out over the galaxy. You can contact the Swordsman at Omashu should you need anything when you head there."

"I will be sure to keep that in mind, Deserter."

"Good luck on your journey, Blue Spirit."

She had to hold back a snort at that. The leader chose his name as the Blue Spirit? The Fire Nation's legendary assassin that had the power to blend into the shadows and use them to his advantage? That man was rumored to have been able to take out entire battalions on his own. He had been said to have existed about five hundred years ago, though. She followed the group as they made their way through the streets, arriving at the spaceport. Hanging back near the entrance, she carefully took note of the ship they boarded before heading back to the small alley she had taken shelter in for the past month and a half. It was time about time she changed ports.

-0-

She was rather impressed by their speed. Not even a day had passed since the ship had left Serpent's Port and they had found her careful hiding place on board the small-yet-fast vessel. If she had to hazard a guess about the make of the ship she would put it to be a Fire Nation Cannon, one of the fastest ships available in the universe. They were built for speed, though this one obviously had been designed to care for the user's comfort as well. As she had snuck onboard, she had wondered if the group had stolen this ship. The way those four boys acted, there was no way they could have been Fire Nation nobility. After all, nobles did not carry around their own weight, argue with one another, or wander about aimlessly at rather poor and distant ports of the Earth Kingdom. Her family had been rich enough to be considered nobility, and she had had plenty of exposure to their kind. It was more or less a universal agreement amongst all nobles, irrelevant of their nation, to act in the same, haughty, holier-than-thou attitude towards those around them. She, too, was well-versed in the art of acting snobby and she knew for a fact that none of those boys were it. Well…maybe the leader of this group, Blue Spirit, but why would he be associating with people lesser than him like they were his friends? It did not make sense. The mannerisms of his companions did not even remotely _match_ those of the Fire Nation. Fire Nation nobility were above associating with trash, especially trash from the other kingdoms.

"Who are you?" Blue Spirit demanded in an angry growl, stirring her from her deep and peaceful slumber, "and why did you sneak aboard my ship?"

Cursing herself for getting over-confident in her abilities and falling asleep while stowing away on a possible Fire Nation ship, she hastily climbed to her feet.

"I need to get to Omashu," she replied, carefully judging the positions his other three companions had taken. Avatar was hidden behind a pile of crates piled to her left, the other boy that had snarled at him on the bridge was concealed in the small stairway that led to the belly of the ship, and their last companion, the one she had dubbed as the silent one because he had yet to speak, was lying in wait, pressed flat against the top of the crates. She had to admit she was somewhat impressed. To an average person, the other three would be undetectable. It was only thanks to her 'seeing' ability that she knew where they were, "and I heard you talking about heading there on the bridge."

"We never mentioned our destination outside of this ship," Blue Spirit said, crossing his arms in mistrust.

Crap. She had never really thought about that.

"Look," she offered, "I can pay you for taking me there if it's money you want."

"I have plenty of money." He countered.

"You're not going to jettison me, are you?" she asked, going for the scared girl act, trying to judge the type of person this Blue Spirit was.

"No, but we _are _going to dump you on the next port," he growled in response. "You can stow away on some other ship from there."

"Would you really abandon a blind girl on an unknown port like that?" she put special emphasis on the word _blind_, turning her face in his direction to make sure he saw her eyes.

"You had been taking care of yourself on Serpent's Port," he said, "and you managed to sneak onboard my ship. I would say you are more than capable of taking care of yourself."

Hearing this, she grinned, "You got that right." And then before any of the four could react, she stomped her foot on the metal floor, manipulating the sheets that built up the ship to her will as she moved her hands in quick, jerky movements, trapping all four in iron bindings.

"The name is Toph," she said casually, brushing non-existent dust off her shoulder as she leaned against the wall behind her, ignoring their angry sputtering and demands to be let go, "though I go around by The Blind Bandit. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

"What exactly are you?" clearly the Blue Spirit had not heard of metalbending… but then again, seeing as she was the only metalbender in existence...

"I'm a blind earthbender that can bend metal." She grinned proudly, "I heard you boys were heading to Omashu in search for a crew for your ship."

"Have you been following us around?"

"Maybe." She replied airily, "I'll let you and your friends go if you promise you'll let me join."

"Why are you so interested?"

"Well, let's see. I ran away from home. I have got nowhere to go. And I'm looking for adventure," Toph grinned, "I figured a pirate crew is just the kind of thing for me."


	5. Chapter 5

The blue eyed warrior prince stood next to his father with his back straighter than a rod, his face expressionless and his eyes emotionless. The Earth Kingdom's delegates disembarked from the ship, the prince's eyes narrowed slightly at the sight of the young woman whose face was painted white, with a rusty red shade covering the lids of her eyes, black lines highlighting the eye-shadow in pointed arcs that upturned sharply near the corners, dipping almost to the middle of her nose on the inner edge. Her lips were painted a brilliant crimson and half of her short brown hair was tied in an up-knot at the back of her head. Across her forehead, she wore a gold plate, with four spoke radiating outwards from a smaller rectangular plate affixed to the middle of the larger one. Decorative golden tassels made out of pure silk hung from either side of the plate. Her overall appearance was fierce and intimidating for the general onlooker as was the purpose of the get up while maintaining and aura of regality and grace. This woman was the leader of the infamous Kyoushi warriors of one of the Earth Kingdom colonies and her name was Lady Kyousuki.

"Welcome to the Southern Water Tribe." His father said cordially as he welcomed the _esteemed_ guests to their city. "This is my son, Prince Sokka."

"Pleasure to meet you Lady Kyousuki." He bowed towards her, as was expected of him.

"The pleasure is all mine, Prince." The woman responded lightly. There wasn't any trace of a smile on her face. Perhaps, she was just as unhappy with this arrangement as him? He tried not to get his hopes up though. Even if she was not pleased with this marriage, it was something that had to be done in light of the recent events. As he led the female warrior through the crowded streets of his home, he let his thoughts drift back to the talk he had had with his father a week back when news of Katara's fate had first reached him.

"_What?" It couldn't be true. He refused to believe it. "How can you be sure dad?"_

"_The wreckage of the ship was found in the Pirate Line."_

"_But that doesn't mean that Katara is-"_

"_Sokka," Chief Hakoda said softly, his blue eyes filled with grief, "there _were_ no survivors."_

"_I don't believe it."_

"_Sokka, Katara is-"_

"_No!" he had burst out angrily, "I refuse to believe it."_

"_Son, you have to understand. She's not-"_

"_No dad!" he cut in his father's words, his voice taking on a pleading tone, "She can't be dead. She… she can't."_

"… _I'm so sorry." He could not bear to look at his father as the older man said those words so he looked away, his fingers subconsciously reaching for the stone he always wore around his neck. It had been a small gift from his mother before she had died. She had given a similar necklace to Katara and their father. The stone was originally a brilliant azure but the one his father possessed had changed its color to obsidian. That's what made the stones so special. Her mother had possessed a similar one, which was now kept in a drawer in his father's cabinet. "Maybe if I had tried to look for an alternative she would have been-"_

"_No!" he exclaimed all of a sudden as his eyes took in the brilliant blue color of the stone he wore around his neck. "She's not dead."_

"_Sokka…"_

"_No dad, listen. She's still alive. Look." And he earnestly thrust the stone at his father. "It's not black. We can send out search parties for her."_

"_I'm glad that she's still alive but… If she comes back son, she'll have to become the Governor's seventh wife."_

"_Not if I agree to their compromise marriage proposal." He shook his head, eyes gleaming in excitement. "They still think Katara is dead. We can let them think that until the deal is finalized. I can head out to look for her after that."_

"_What will you do about your fiancé?" his father pointed out with a small frown, though he could see his father was partially convinced already, "You can't expect her to wait here for you patiently while you go out to scour the galaxy for Katara."_

"_I can try and convince her to not push for marriage for a year. I'm sure I'll be able to find Katara by then."_

"_And if she doesn't agree."_

"_I'll wing it."_

"You seem lost in thought, Prince." He was brought out of his thoughts when his companion and future fiancé spoke up.

"I was just thinking…" he muttered quietly avoiding her gaze completely.

"About?"

"My sister," he responded, staring out at the horizon as the sun set in the distance, the orange rays reflecting off the ice, making it sparkle like the shards of a broken glass.

"Oh…" he saw her look away out of the corner of his eye, "I'm really sorry for your loss."

"Lady Kyousuki," he started a little hesitantly, unsure if this was the best way to go about it, "I had a small request that I wanted to make before we finalize the marriage contract."

"Yes?" the young woman questioned politely as she turned her head to meet his gaze.

"Could we…" he paused, hoping to spirits in the ocean that she would not make a big deal out of it, "not get married for a year?"

"I'm sorry?" confusion was etched clearly in her painted features.

"I mean… it's just that," he looked away again, wondering if his act was convincing her or not, "my sister just died and well, I think I need some time to cope with the loss. There's also some things that I've always wanted to do since I was a kid but I'm sure my responsibilities after marriage won't let me fulfill those dreams."

"What would those dreams be?" her tone now carried curiosity.

"Travelling." He answered almost immediately.

"Surely you have travelled to foreign lands with your father before." She stated incredulously.

"I have." He admitted, "But that's not what I mean by travelling. You might find this a little strange but…" he turned back to stare at her eyes. They were so different from Yue's but… there was something about them that seemed to draw him in, "I want to see what it's like to travel as a commoner."

"… You want to travel as a commoner?" the female warrior seemed surprised, and Sokka inwardly grinned. It seemed that his acting skills had improved quite a lot. "That's quite an unusual wish for someone of your station."

"I know." He said, schooling his expression into that of embarrassment, "that's probably why I never said it. But learning about Katara's death when she was still so young, made me think. Who knows for how long I might be able to live for. I just… don't want to have any regrets when I die."

"So you have no problem with marrying me?" She inquired in a tone that betrayed no emotion.

"Honestly speaking," he admitted, returning his gaze towards the setting sun, "I'm not ready to get married right now. But it's something that I must do for the sake of my people. If getting married to you will ensure their safety and survival than it's my duty to do so."

"What if you meet someone while you're travelling and you fall in love with her?" she quirked a brow skeptically, "Would you still be willing to marry me?"

"I doubt something like that would happen. I would never humiliate my fiancé by going behind her back." He answered casually as he finally turned around to look at her fully. Taking her hands in his own, he held her sharp, blue-eyed gaze as he spoke, "Let me have this one year and I give you my word as the Chief's son and a water tribe warrior, 'I _will_ marry you.'"

"I have heard you water tribe warriors take your given word as law." Lady Kyousuki said in a regal tone, "I will hold you to that then. I shall speak with the council man accompanying me and let you know of our decision by tomorrow morning."

"Thank you my Lady," he said, softly kissing the back of her gloved hand, knowing that he'd have to lay on his charm in a _thick _layer if he wanted to sway her decision in his favor. "Now would you like to head towards the central square? Our Waterbenders have prepared something special to formally welcome you to our tribe."

-0-

"What is the meaning of your decision Lady Kyousuki?" the council man raged around her chambers as the female warrior reclined in the fur lined bed. "Delay the marriage for a year?"

"I have the prince's word as a warrior that he will honor the deal come next year. I see no problem with letting him have some time to grieve the recent loss of his sister."

"By letting him travel across the galaxy as a commoner?"

"What he chooses to do with his time is his own decision."

"But what if he meets someone else?"

"Do you really think he would embarrass not only myself but his whole nation by refusing to marry me?" she drawled lazily as she quirked her brow at the old man in question.

"… what if harm comes to him on his travels? Word is bound to get out once he sets off."

"Prince Sokka is a skilled warrior in his own right. Had he not been one, I would not have agreed to this marriage in the first place. Do not insult my decision by insinuating that my future husband is a weakling."

"I was not insinuating anything of the sort my Lady, but-"

The woman cut him before he could speak any further, "That's good to know. I do not think that any further discussion is needed on this topic. Now tell me, don't you think the prince is kinda cute when he grins?"

-0-

Sokka sighed, slamming his nearly empty mug on the countertop with a little more force than necessary as he went over the past month and a half. He had been on his own for that long, away from the Water Tribe, away from home, away from everything he had ever known. He had been travelling through all these backwater spaceports in hopes of catching some wind about the fate of his sister. But so far, nothing at all had turned up. The clock was ticking for both of them. In less than ten months, he'd have to go back and get married to Lady Kyousuki.

_Something_ should have turned up by now. Subconsciously his grip on the tightened, enough to cause hairline cracks to appear in its surface. So lost was he in his thoughts that he completely failed to notice the woman walking by him trip and fall in his lap with a rather undignified yelp.

"Hey there handsome," She giggled, struggling to get off him and failing rather miserably. She appeared to be around twenty years old, same age as Sokka and was dressed in a pair of ragged looking shorts and a brown button up shirt that was partially unbuttoned, hair left loose to frame pretty face with stunning blue eyes. Finally succeeding in standing upright, she gave him a wide smile, "can you… buy me another drink? That man standing over there," She pointed with a small giggle as she swayed rather unsteadily, "He says that I'm drunk." Her grin turned into a pout, "funny thing is… I'm not." The last part she said in a loud stage whisper before doubling over as a fit of giggles over took her.

Looking over the woman once, he shook his head, grabbing his satchel from the stool next to him just as he threw a couple of coins on the counter and made to leave.

"I agree with that man," he said stiffly as he slung the bag over his shoulder and started to leave, "You need to go home and sleep."

"But…" the woman flailed, racing forward to attach herself to his free arm, "I have no idea where my home is… Can you take me to yours?" she purred in his ear, sending an involuntary shiver down his spine at the close proximity. Carefully extracting himself from her vice-like grip he shook his head before quickening his pace.

"How rude!" she yelled behind him, "You're not even going to offer a lady some help?" then before he could figure out what was happening, she was back on his arm like an elbowleech.

"Look, lady," he said, struggling to get her to release his numbing arm without having to use unnecessary force, "I'm not interested in your type."

"Oh! I'm so sorry." She apologized hastily letting go as she took a couple of steps back, "I had no idea you weren't interested in women."

Despite himself, Sokka could not help but let out an undignified yelp at that, "What? Why would I not be interested in women?"

"Well," she said in a way as though it should have been obvious, "a beautiful and perfectly willing and drunk woman starts hitting on you in the most obvious manner and you just start to walk away. That's a major giveaway for your preferences."

"I have a fiancé." He responded stiffly, turning around and walking out of the bar.

"Oh. Whoops, sorry," and she was latched back on his arm, "Should have known you were taken. A cute guy like you can't stay single for long." She sighed wistfully, "She must be lucky. The one you love enough to want to marry at such a young age."

A painful pang assaulted his heart upon hearing those words. The one he had loved was dead. This marriage was nothing but a convenience. His dark thoughts must have shown on his face because only a minute later, the woman was looking at him in concern.

"What's wrong?"

"We're not in love." He replied shortly, absently looking around for some place he could lodge in for the night.

"Then why are you marrying her?" she asked with a curious tilt of her head, "Why not marry the one you love?"

"Because the one I love is dead," he spat, rudely shrugging her off his arm, "and… sometimes you don't really have any other options left."

"… well I think it's stupid." The woman said, following after him even as he tried rather hard to lose her in the crowded streets, "You always have options left."

"Not me." he grumbled, sighing inwardly when she refused to stop following him.

"Even you!" she declared rather loudly, "Oh, by the way. My name is Suki. What's your name cutie?"

"Sokka," the prince in disguise replied, "And I am not cute." He added stiffly.

"Of course you are." She argued, "Your ponytail gives you _that_ sort of look."

"What sort of look?"

"_That_ sort of look. You know." She wiggled an eyebrow.

Heaving a sigh, he stopped walking to look at the woman. "Look lady-"

"Suki." She interrupted with a pout as she crossed her arms. "I thought I just told you my name."

"Look, Suki," he pinched the bridge of his nose, "I can tell you have taken a liking to me but I am not interested, okay? There is someplace I need to be so why don't you just go home and sleep off all that beer or wine or whatever it was that you drank."

Suki opened her mouth to say something but she was wrenched away from him by a rather tall, gangly looking man. "Here you are you bitch. Thought you could give me the slip, eh?"

"L-Let me go." Suki stuttered, eyes widening in fear as she looked at Sokka for help.

"Gonna act all scared of me, are you bitch?" the man spat as he jerked her arm rather harshly, "Good. You should be."

"Hey, let her go." Sokka found himself ordering the man, despite what his mind kept on trying to tell him. Stuff like this was a part of life on these ports. He could not get in the middle of each and every single one he came across. But the way that woman had been looking at him with her helpless blue-eyes, Sokka knew he'd never be able to live with himself if something were to happen to this woman.

"Move it, lover boy." The man growled as he started dragging Suki away, "this bitch owes me and my buddies."

"I said," Sokka growled rather dangerously as he drew his sword, "let her go."

"You heard him," Suki grinned a predatory grin as she jerked her arm free from the man just as a group of men rushed from down the street and formed a circle around them, "let me go."

"We'll just take your lover-boy down with you," the man growled as he drew his own sword, motioning for the men surrounding them to draw their respective weapons as well.

"We'll just have to see about that, won't we?" Suki smirked back, reaching into the back of her shirt before drawing a pair of metal fans.

_**A/N: Not the best of chapters, I know. But it had been sitting in my laptop for ages. I felt like it was time to complete it and put it up. Some amount of time has passed between the last chapter and this one by the way. Suki wasn't in-character at all here but that was intentional. I've left hints in this chapter as to why that is but can any of you figure it out?**_

_**Oh by the way, Happy New Year guys! ^_^**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: This has not yet been beta read but I hope you guys can ignore the mistakes for now and just enjoy the update. I will replace this with the Beta'd version once I have it myself.**_

Of all the pirates onboard the vessel, Katara probably hated the captain and the resident weapons expert the most. The others seems okay though it had been quite a bit of a surprise for her to discover that the oldest one there was no more than a year older than her brother. The man's name was Haru and he was an Earth Bender. Quite devoted to the captain though he tended to serve as the voice of reason and the second peacemaker amongst the group. It had to have been almost over a month now since her kidnapping but if one were to ignore the fact that she had been brought here and kept against her will, Katara might have felt inclined to admit on various occasions that this was probably the best kidnapping ever. But she would only ever admit that if she were to get extremely drunk and completely out of her mind.

The reason for that though was quite simple. Apart from the couple of times they had docked on a space-station, Katara was actually not being treated as a prisoner at all. In fact, all the kids aboard- yes kids because seriously, out of the crew of eight, only three were either the same age as her or older in Haru's case. The damned pirate captain with his scarred face, Fire Nation gold eyes and unruly black hair was the same age as her and the weapons expert only a year older. Her hatred for the captain ran deep partly on principle because he was a part of the Nation that had served as the reason for all her pain and suffering and partly on the fact that he was a complete and total _jerk!_ Her first night on this vessel had been hell thanks to the bastard.

The man who wore a scowl as though it had been pasted on his face with permanent glue had the gall to question her- the princess of the Southern Water tribe- about her origins and what she had been on an Earth Kingdom ship merchant ship while she clearly had no business of being there. Katara had indignantly told the pirate to go and push himself out of the airlock but the man had only looked at her with a cool detachment before repeating his question once again. She had obviously had to lie about who she was –claiming to be the daughter of an Earth Kingdom merchant- because she was injured and a little scared and confused and not to mention bending-less… they had somehow taken away her bending.

The pirate captain had looked at her with a look that stated that he didn't believe her at all but then decided that according to what she had said she held little to no worth so she would dumped at the next space station they docked at. The weapons expert on the other hand- oh just thinking about that one made her blood boil- had leered at her before suggesting they sell her off instead since she was obviously an exquisite beauty and there had to be someone out there interested in paying a hefty sum for someone like her. Katara's blood had run cold upon hearing those words though she had struggled to not let her fear show. Of course the boy with the tattoos, the one that had dragged her into this mess in the first place, had objected to that and had begged for the captain to reconsider. In the end it had been decided that she was to work as the boy's assistant in the galley. Oh yes. The boy was the ship's cook and she was now his _assistant_.

The kid's name was Aang and if one were to ignore the starry-eyed look that briefly crossed his face every time she addressed him, she figured he was an okay kid. She still couldn't quite figure out just what he had done to knock her out because his bending had been something she had not seen before in her life and she had not had the chance to witness it again either. Apart from the jerk of a captain, the bastard of a weapons expert and the ship's cook who was the other peacemaker there, and the older Earth Bender, there were four other members on the crew.

A disabled boy, the same age as Aang who called himself Teo- he was the technology expert, the silent cannon master, Longshot and two tomboys namely SmellerBee and Toph. The first time she had seen the last, she had actually been so shocked she had ended up screaming at the captain for kidnapping little helpless girls and keeping them there for their perverse pleasures. After all, why else would someone have a blind girl onboard their ship? At the end of her rant, silence had rang in the tiny chamber she was being kept in for half a second before everyone had burst out in laughter. The blind girl that she had felt so protective about had been the first one to quiet down and address her.

Her exact words, "I'll let this one slide just because you are new here and Aangy-Waangy-"

"Toph… will you quit it with the stupid nickname already!" The tattooed boy had complained.

"Nope, sorry Twinkletoes." The girl had thrown carelessly over her shoulder before turning back to address Katara, "So anyhow, as I was saying. I'll let this one slide because you're new and you don't really know any better and our little lover-boy has a major crush on you but!" here the girl had walked so close to her that their nose almost brushed when she pulled Katara down to her face-level, "don't even mistakenly ever call me a _helpless_ little girl again, understand? Just because I'm blind does not automatically mean I'm helpless. I can damn well take care of myself and you better get it through that pretty little head of yours SugarQueen." And with that, she had turned on her heels and stomped away with all the grace of a stampeding RhinoHorse.

The Captain had worldlessly turned around and left, taking the weapons expert and the Earth Bender with him leaving her alone with the other tomboy, the cook, the tech expert and the cannon-master.

"Welcome to the crew Miss," the disabled boy had grinned good-naturedly, making the Water Bender wonder just what in the world had happened. Seeing her confused look, the boy's grin had widened before he explained, "since Toph has already given you a nickname, it means you're part of the crew now, so welcome aboard. I'm Teo, loverboy here is Aang, that's Smellerbee and Longshot. The lovely princess that just stomped away is Toph though she doesn't mind if you use her alias to address her. The Blind Pundit."

"It's Bandit! Blind _Bandit_!" she had heard the girl's voice scream over the intercom, "Get it right or stop introducing me with that name you bastard!"

"I love you too Toph," Teo had called back cheekily before moving on, "The grumpy guy with the scarred face is our Captain, his name is Zuko but he prefers it if you call him Captain Zuko. The guy carrying those hooked swords is Jet and the last and the oldest member of our group is Haru. He's really nice and he's also single in case you're interested in knowing. Haru is also-"

"I think that's enough Teo." Aang had quickly covered the boy's mouth with his hand, muffling out Teo's next words as he grinned sheepishly. "Don't mind Teo. He's a little addled in the head if you know what I mean. I think it's time for his medication, right guys?" he added over his shoulder to his remaining companions as Katara took in everything with her jaw unhinged. In the span of five minutes, she had been turned from kidnapped to a potential slave to a pirate crew-member. And these children had already started treating her as one of their own. This boy, Aang, had been there when she had woken up first, explaining to her in a cheerful voice how he had brought her onboard this ship to _save her life._

The rest of his explanation had constituted of how he had accidentally knocked her out when she had attacked him. He had sworn he had not meant to hurt her and that he had felt bad about leaving her on board her own ship to bleed out so he had brought her to his ship instead so that they could treat her injuries. Of course since she was a Water Bender, the Captain had seen it fit to have her abilities restrained with the bracelet on her wrist. When she had tried to slip it off, he had hurriedly grabbed her hand, yelling to the world how if she took it off, she would lose an arm. Apparently, the bracelet was something the Fire Nation had designed and if a bender were to try and take it off without entering the pass-code, the bracelet would explode. Growling under her breath, Katara had turned on the boy and demanded he take it off, only for him to give her a sheepish grin and reply.

"Yeah… I'd love to do that but the problem is that only Captain knows the pass-code." He scratched the back of his head, "So unless he decides you can have your bending back, you're stuck with the bracelet, sorry."

So now, here she was, almost a month later, working in the galley, helping Aang serve the hungry pirates like a common household maid. The captain had refused to allow the bracelet's removal despite her demands that he do so. The couple of times they docked she had been locked in her room with the Blind Bandit to keep watch over her. She had tried talking the girl into betraying the pirates and letting her go, trying to guilt trip her into thinking about her worried family and pretty much anything else she could think of to which Toph had replied with a bitter smile.

"I'm nothing more than a trading chip for furthering the wealth of my family through marriage. These _pirates_ as you have put them… at least they treat me like a human being and not some fragile piece of china." Katara had thought it better than to push further. Her answer had made it quite clear where her loyalties lay. This girl was no doubt someone from the upper echelons of the Earth Kingdom. After all, only the elite of the elite used marriage to bind contracts. From the way the Captain moved, she could tell he was probably an elite too though why he had chosen the life of a rogue, she couldn't quite figure out.

Working in the galley wasn't as bad as she had initially feared mostly because she didn't really have to cook for the pirates. Only act as the server which was something she hated with the bottom of her heart when that jerk of a weapons expert came in for food. The man always leered at her, making her feel like she was a piece of meat to be ogled at by perverts rather than a human being. Haru was always polite on the other hand and the captain completely ignored her which suited her just fine. But the bastard always seemed to remember her whenever they docked! Why couldn't he forget about her when he left the ship? She could easily sneak out and not have to worry about him or his stupid vessel ever again.

Sadly, that day she ended up being locked inside her room far longer than usual, almost half a day! Her empty stomach growled rather viciously and she had almost made up her mind to knock on the door and demand to be let out, stupid captain's rules be damned because she was _hungry_ damn it!

That was when she heard the commotion outside. Aang seemed rather upset about something, yelling in panic. Toph had left her station outside her room soon after that, she had heard her boots clunking away after all. Almost five minutes later, Aang came knocking down the door to her room. The front of his shirt was covered in blood and his hands were stained in red as well. His eyes were wide, panicked and bloodshot and he looked almost manic in his desperation as he descended upon her.

"You're a Water Bender, right? From the Southern WaterTribe? Your people… they have healing abilities. Please tell me you can heal."

"Aang what are you talking about. I'm an Earth Kingdom's merchant's daughter."

"I didn't tell anyone about it but I read parts from your diary. You're Water tribe!" he cried accusingly.

"Even if I am," she crossed her arms angrily. Who in the world gave him the right to go through her diary! "I can't bend anymore thanks to your amazing Captain."

"I'll take care of your bending problem." He latched onto her hand, a desperation she had never seen before showing on his face as he half-begged, "Please tell me, can you heal?"

"I… I can." She replied, feeling rather confused as to why he was so desperate to know. Suddenly it hit her. All that blood. One of them must be hurt.

"Great. Come on then!" and without waiting for her response he grabbed her unbroken arm and started dragging her down the corridors to the lower level of the ship where the infirmary, cargo hold and the gymnasium was located.

"Aang, what's wrong?" she asked, trying to keep up with his almost unnatural pace, "who's hurt?"

"It's Jet. He got ambushed when we split up to get supplies. He went to the dealers with our cargo and they got into a fight. He was supposed to meet up with us near the docks but he was late. That's nothing new though you know." He was speaking a mile a minute as he pulled her along, the sounds of chaos up ahead distracting her a little from the boy's explanation, "he's always fooling around but Zuko was in a hurry to leave so we went to look for him. We found him dumped in an alley near the traders place and… I think he'll die if you don't do something. There's so much blood!"

Before she could get another word out, she was being pushed inside the infirmary, the captain bent over Jet, holding his shoulders down as the latter's body convulsed. The weapons master was coughing up blood by the lungful and it stained his clothes and the captain's. Toph and Haru were moving about, setting up equipment and gathering things they needed while the rest of the crew was all huddled up near the watch-bay.

A sick rattling sound came from his chest every time he coughed and it was rather easy for Katara to diagnose that he had punctured something inside, perhaps a rib or two were broken as well.

"Aang, I need this thing off, now!" she hurriedly pulled her hair back in a bun and moved to the basin to disinfect her hands. The bastard didn't really have much time left if the chalk white pallor of his skin was anything to go with.

"What the heck is she doing here?" she heard the captain growl at the teen as she hurriedly washed her hands and looked around for surgical gloves.

"She's a Water Bender. She can heal him." Aang said by way of explanation.

"Take her back to her room." The man said dismissively before turning his attention back to his dying companion, "We're handling this just fine Aang. I doubt she'd be able to do much. I mean just _look _at her."

Fury burned like a raging inferno inside her chest at hearing those words. How dare he insinuate that she couldn't heal just because of the way she looked? And what was wrong with her looks anyways?

"Now is not the time to be a stubborn ass," she snarled, marching up to the scarred man before Aang could stop her, forcing him to turn around as she screamed in his face, "Like Aang said, I'm a Water Bender, I can heal him."

"I thought you were Earth Kingdom." He replied coolly.

Exasperation colored her tone. Was he really going to harp on about her lie when his friend was possibly dying?

"My mother was from the Water Tribe," she said irritably, tugging at the bracelet on her arm as her gaze drifted to the dying man. Toph and Haru were busy hooking him up to the life support machines. "Now take this stupid thing off so I can heal him!"

"We can handle this just fine. How do I know you're not going to use your bending to turn on us and run away if I take this off?"

The sound of her slap echoed in the infirmary and for a brief heartbeat, everyone froze to look at the two. "If you don't let me help, he'll die! Does his life mean nothing to you? I don't even like him and I'm _worried_ for his sake. Some captain you turned out to be."

Something seemed to shift behind his gaze as he glared at her for a moment before he snatched her arm and swiped his finger across the digital lock. He twisted the joint a little and the bracelet came off with a tiny click. "Tell them what you need." He jerked his head towards the Earth Benders over his shoulder as he moved out of her way.

Immediately going into medic-mode as her brother had liked to call it, Katara pushed everything out of her mind. She stepped next to Jet's bed and placed her hands against his damaged chest.

"I need water." She said, concentrating on trying to assess the internal damage. His right lung had been partially punctured by a broken rib, he had numerous cuts and bruises littering the rest of his body, he also seemed to have a concussion from some sort of heavy blow to the head but she figured she'd worry about waking him up later. For the time being their biggest concern was his punctured lung.

"Here." Haru said as he placed a bowl of water on the workstation next to her. Katara felt a rush of happiness through her body at finally being able to bend something that was in her very nature but a jolt of pain in her own arm made her concentration slip and the water fell back into the bowl.

"What's wrong?" Aang asked worriedly.

"It's just my arm." She replied, indicating the brace that had replaced the cast on her arm a week ago. Even if she had been a captive, they had at least not neglected her physical health, treating her injury as they would one of their own crew members. Though she probably had Aang to thank for that one. Using only her uninjured hand this time, she bent a little water over her brace, feeling the familiar soothing sensation as it absorbed into her skin and fixed the fissured bone and mended the tissue.

"I didn't take your restrainer of for you to heal yourself." The Captain growled impatiently and for a second Katara contemplated ignoring him but decided against it. Somebody had to put that pompous ass in his place.

"I'm healing my arm so I can heal _him_ quicker." She replied acidly, "Injured Water Benders can't bend as effectively as uninjured ones. You should know that much. After all your people used that as a means of restraining us before someone came up with these bracelets."

She heard a sharp intake of breath from the scarred Captain but she paid him no more thought as she finished healing her arm and turned her attention to the weapons expert. It took every bending trick she knew to do and it took her over four hours but in the end, she managed to save the bastard's life. Of course, never having had to bend for so long took its toll on her when she finally moved away from the sleeping man's side. Feeling faint and out of breath, she had collided with the wall behind her, sliding to the ground in a boneless heap as all of the pirates had gathered inside the infirmary to look at the still alive Jet and thank her for her help. They all grew silent when the captain stepped forward however.

"Thank you for saving Jet," he said gratefully as he helped her to her feet. Katara was rather taken aback by his gratitude but allowed herself a small smile. Maybe he wasn't that much of a bastard after- the captain slammed the restrainer right around her wrist again, narrowing his eyes in anger as he looked at her, "but just because you saved his life, _don't_ even for one second think that you will be able to get away with lobbing me around with the Fire Nation scum. I am _nothing_ like them." Pushing her towards Aang, the man turned his back towards her, "take her back to her quarters Aang."

_**A/N: This story is coming along a little slow but that's mainly because I make up the plot for it as I go along. If you guys have ideas for it, or if you want to see something happen here or even if you have some questions regarding something, feel free to ask and I'll see what I can do about it. ;)**_


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